News and Features by Research Area or Topic

NCCOS is honored to have ten of its employees recognized by the NOAA National Ocean Service (NOS). The awards recognize outstanding contributions in support of the NOS mission in 2016. The 2016 National Ocean Service Awards to NCCOS Employee of the Year This award recognizes significant contributions to NOS programs and demonstrated exceptional and sustained […]

Scientists from NOAA and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) recently completed their annual harmful algal cyst sampling in the Gulf of Maine, a critical step for forecasting next year’s harmful algal blooms (HABs) of the toxic Alexandrium fundyense, commonly known as New England red tide. A. fundyense has both a vegetative stage, where cells grow and float in surface […]

A new Digital Atlas for the Choptank River Complex Habitat Focus Area is now available. The Digital Atlas consists of a web-based mapping portal, a distributable geospatial database, and a Baseline Status Report. Each of these products is designed to support a greater understanding of the Choptank and Little Choptank River watersheds. Topics covered by […]

This past summer NCCOS scientists collected underwater photos and videos from mesophotic ocean depths (30–100 meters) between Vieques Island and St. John in the U.S. Caribbean. The data will support the development of a new benthic habitat map that will depict the distribution of mesophotic coral reef ecosystems on the insular shelf. The new habitat […]

How the travelling salesman saved a day of Caribbean field work | by Arliss Winship It’s not every day that an ecological modeler gets out in the field. I spend most of my time behind a computer synthesizing ecological data sets and conducting statistical analyses. Not the most fun activities one associates with marine science. […]

The state of Hawai‘i is working to develop local renewable energy sources to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, primarily by exploring opportunities with offshore wind. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), responsible for regulating the leasing, construction, and operation of most renewable energy projects in federal waters, partnered with NOAA’s National Centers for […]

Just Another Day of Field Work Daybreak over the Caribbean Sea. It’s at the peak of hurricane season in the US Virgin Islands, but the sun rose slowly over unusually calm cerulean blue waters as the CrewZen II broke through the glassy surface of the bay. We were transiting out towards our first ground validation […]

Last week, a team from NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) and Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS) met with Wisconsin stakeholders to help inform and design baseline socioeconomic and environmental assessments in support of the Wisconsin–Lake Michigan sanctuary designation. Meeting participants identified stakeholder research priorities and shaped plans to map important lakebed areas, […]